Dead Space: Dirge of Sanity
by OneWingedAngel070993
Summary: In the dark recesses of her broken mind the memories of what happened back then still linger. Was she sane anymore? Or had it all been just some drug induced nightmare? These questions and more buzz through her mind as she tries to unsee the images of horror that she'd witnessed just three years previously.
1. Prologue: Remembering the Ishimura

**Author's Note: **My first DS fanfic hope you guys enjoy it :D

** Prologue: Remembering the Ishimura**

''Can you tell us exactly what happened on the Ishimura Ms Stone? Remember if you don't co-operate you won't see your family again, is that clear?'' She nodded, how long had this gone on? Felt like years but couldn't have been that long surely, could it? Time had lost all meaning to her, she'd also lost her a fair bit of sanity a long time ago from watching all the mutilations and murder even participating in some herself. The dementia mightn't have gotten to her but something sure did. Sighing the man questioning her left muttering a swear as she just stared blankly at the wall of her padded cell.

''They're coming for me, they'll get all of you too,'' the young woman whispered just before the man left. He froze and turned to ask her just what the hell she was talking about before he was pulled out of the room by a guard and the door locked behind him. Something big was happening or going to happen, this she knew because she was chosen especially by the marker to do it. No one else could because they were all insane even Isaac. It hurt to think about him, a pain set in and she shook her head as flashes of horrific images began appearing. She turned and stared at the door and saw the same bloody message she'd seen somewhere on the Ishimura, ''Cut off their limbs''.

After the fifth day of fruitless interrogations the man who she could only describe as a bald, middle-aged pencil pusher brought her out of the cell she'd been in for god knows how long. Her hands were cuffed as she was brought out, she caught a glimpse of herself in a mirror and was shocked to see she still looked exactly like she did when she boarded the Ishimura that day. There were screams from the other cells, talk of monsters and aliens that she was all too familiar with. The bald guy told them all to shut up or there would be _dire _consequences putting a lot of emphases on the word ''dire''. ''Now this way Genna,'' he told her and she was glad he'd dropped the whole ''Ms Stone'' thing. It'd bugged her about him since day one. She stepped into the room and sat down staring at some of the wall monitors.

One showed the outside, nothing but stars and the occasional asteroid. The bald man sat down first then asked Genna to do the same. Aside from the monitors and computers all that was in the room were two chairs, a table and some storage units oh and a camera too. ''Now interviewing patient 45799F Ms Genna Stone,'' the bald man said to the camera, then he turned to her and asked the same question he'd been asking for five days after she'd woken up. For a minute Genna wasn't sure if she could remember, it almost felt like those horrible memories were gone but then they came flooding back into her head and the pain was immense. She flinched a bit in her seat and finally decided to tell the man her story; starting from the very beginning, the day she boarded the USG Ishimura.

_I was asked by my superiors if I'd like an eight month job on the Ishimura. At first I thought they were joking but they assured me it was all real and even showed me the documents. Needless to say I accepted because at the time there was no one in my district that would've given up that chance. The pay was more than what I'd expected from a simple surveyor's job but I'm getting a little off track here. It was only a week later that I found myself waiting at the terminal to get on the ship and waving goodbye to my parents. Mom was a worry wart and begged me to be careful, I told her I would and left to board._

He nodded to everything she said, and despite the pain it was causing in her head she went on.

_The crew were nice enough, there was one woman there. Her name was Nicole I think, she was a medic. Well she showed me around the place telling me where I was going to be bunking and stuff, she also said if I felt sick or queasy that I should come to her immediately. I nodded, thanked her and she left. We talked a lot during my work, she mentioned her boyfriend. His name was Isaac Clarke, she would talk about him a lot telling me he was such a nice, considerate..._

The man interrupted her for a bit and went over to the console to check something on file. She stared at his RIG glowing aqua, the sign of a healthy person. Her own RIG felt uncomfortable, she'd never liked wearing one. ''Okay continue Genna,'' he said as he sat back down.

_Yeah she never stopped talking about him, had to admit I felt jealous. I mean I was twenty two and still hadn't found anyone and here she was telling me how awesome her relationship was. Honestly I wanted to tell her to shut up but I didn't. So that's pretty much how it was for a while, I surveyed the ship regularly and had brief chats with some crewmen but otherwise it was pretty lonely. Then..._

She stopped, remembering the first encounter with one of those ''things''. It had happened as she was surveying some of the equipment on the ship deeper in. There were unsettling rattling noises and she'd checked the vent's only to find nothing until she turned around and saw one of the monsters.

_I panicked and used Kinesis to throw a few boxes at that... thing. It had four arms, well two were claws the others looked like human arms. All I can remember is running and alarms going off, I tripped on some wires that were lying around. Those ungodly scratching noises, I can still hear them perfectly. My situation was dire, all I could think about was getting off the ship because there was something here that wasn't right. Something I didn't want to see or hear, I thought I'd go insane if I did._

''Okay Genna that's enough for today, we'll continue this tomorrow.'' Nodding the young woman went back to her cell catching another glimpse of herself finding that she still looked like the short, brown-haired and green-eyed twenty two year old woman and not some disgusting creature like the ones that had been killing people on the Ishimura. Her straight jacket was put back on and before the door closed she heard someone scream in pain. The sound kept her up for a long time.


	2. Chapter One: Screams of the Dead

**Author's Note: **Finally Chapter One is finished. Hope you all like it :D

**Chapter One: Screams of the Dead**

The pain in her head continued to increase, it felt like her brain was going to explode. She screamed out and thrashed around desperate to break free from her prison. Just when she was about to give up the door opened and the bald guy came rushing in, his clothes were covered in blood. Screams could be heard from outside and Genna wanted to throw up at the sound. Things were going bad, she'd known this would happen but had been powerless to stop them. It was all down to that damn marker anyway, everything would've been fine had they just left it alone. ''Stay away!'' the bald guy screamed and Genna didn't know whether to cry or laugh. He turned to her and smiled. ''Well well, looks like you were more trouble than you're worth girl. Might as well throw you out there with the rest of them...'' he said laughing hysterically as he got her out of the straight jacket ''... Your clothes are in the other room Ms Stone, farewell.'' And with that he opened the door and pushed her out into the dark blood soaked hallway.

''Oh no, not again,'' she whispered watching as the necromorphs made quick work of the few survivors running around hysterically in a blind panic. Genna didn't have much time, the power seemed like it was out and she didn't have a clue where she was. Not having anything else to go on she ran to the room next to hers in hopes of finding her clothes. She found all her things even the few credits she'd had with her. Without wasting a second she put on her old clothes and tried to find a map of the place somewhere. One of the necromorphs busted in, slime covering its face and ugly, alien body. The thing screamed once then ran at her, Genna thought fast and knocked over some things before making a break for the door. Cleaning supplies and other things fell to the floor but it wasn't enough to stop it. ''Dammit,'' she muttered wishing she still had that plasma cutter from the Ishimura. Another necromorph joined them and she became more and more convinced that she wasn't going to see her parents or anyone else for that matter again.

Shaking that thought from her head she took a deep breath and decided that she was going to run past the two monsters. Their long claws extended to chop her up but she managed to dodge them both, the things let out a simultaneous growl and ran at her. Genna braced herself and waited for the right moment to sidestep to the left leaving the thing to crash into the wall behind her. The other monster ran into the first and she saw her chance, there were more screams coming from outside but that didn't matter to her now. Without wasting another second she ran for the door and managed to get out only to see several people be transformed into the dreadful things. Sighing she continued to run not letting up for a second. The smell of blood and bile filled her lungs and she gagged a bit but kept running. She didn't have a map and all the corridors looked similar but there was no way she was just going to stay and die. _''Ms Stone is that you?''_a female voice said and she noticed that her communicator was still functional.

''Yes this is Genna Stone, who is this?'' she enquired and the woman said her name was Dena. A hologram of her popped up in front of Genna's face. The woman then went on to say that some guy was after her and that Genna needed to leave the hospital for the tram station right away. ''Why should I trust you?'' There was silence before the woman said that she didn't really have much of a choice if she wanted to live. ''Guess you're right, can you patch the coordinates of my destination to my RIG.'' The woman nodded and did just that, suddenly Genna didn't feel so lost but still a lingering thought of dread remained close to the surface. Now that she had a destination she was able to use the map to get the hell out of there. What she needed to find now was a weapon, she was positive that if she got to a store she'd be able to purchase a plasma cutter at least. A necromorph snuck up behind her, she promptly kicked it away and spotted a Kinesis module on a desk in the room to her left. Running for it she was sure something would get in her way but none did and she grabbed the module. Not wasting a second she slipped it on and activated it. Great, this would help fend off the monsters till she found a store.

Genna thought that no one had survived this judging from all the blood and guts around the place. However there were people alive and holed up in one of the infirmaries. No matter what she said they refused to open up for her, guess she couldn't blame them. A necromorph appeared around the corner and to her surprise she recognised it as the bald doctor who'd pushed her out of the cell. The picture on his tag looked exactly like him; unfortunately he himself didn't, having been transformed into a walking monstrosity. Genna used her Kinesis to throw a chair at him forcing the thing back giving her a chance to run. After doing so she turned back and saw the thing head for the room of survivors. She ran back taking one step around the corner as a decapitated head flew past and hit the wall with a disgusting crunch sound. Then there were more screams as the thing made quick work of the remaining people. Not wanting to stick around to see the results Genna left to her destination.

Surgical equipment was strewn all over the hallways and rooms, she had to move some to get past some doors. One reception had a bunch of balloons dangly on the counter, she couldn't help but stare at them and think of her family. Were they even still alive? Did they know about all this? And if they did what did it mean for her now? All these questions buzzed in her head as she stared at the balloon with ''Happy Birthday'' written on them. A blood stained teddy bear was lying on its side next to the balloons, she didn't want to think what had happened. If the blood and fire as well as the chairs and stuff thrown around weren't bad enough that bear sure was. Dammit she couldn't stop thinking about it now, the damn Ishimura. At the beginning she'd just vaguely remembered it but now everything was hitting her like a ton of bricks. The marker and Aegis 7, that's when things had started going downhill.

She also remembered Nicole committing suicide and the murders... Everything was coming back, the meeting with Isaac and how they'd both been the only survivors. At least that she knew of, everything after they'd escaped in the shuttle was a blur. The voices of people who she'd known spoke up in her head, some of them were screaming in pain even Nicole who'd had a 'peaceful' death. Sighing she shook her head and looked in a nearby mirror. Her face looked exactly like it had when she'd stepped aboard the Ishimura. Even the beads in her hair were the same. A necromorph showed up running towards her, she used some chairs to slow it down and ran. Enough about the past, it was time to get out of there and figure out just what the hell was going on from this Dena woman. Something told her she wasn't going to like the answers.


End file.
